DIY Moss/Small plant Growing Setup!

So I've been wanting to do this project for FOREVER!!!!! I've been growing different kinds of mosses in glass cups and bowls for MONTHS and I kept putting it off and tonight I said ok I've got an extra 20 minutes let me stop by that evil empire land WALMART so I can put my evil plan to work!!!!

Anyway, here's a list and a project total and materials!
4 x 6 Quart clear storage bins - .97 each -- 3.88
2 x Clip On Desk Lamps - 7.97 each -- 15.94
1 x 4 pack DAYLIGHT GE CFL bulbs -- 7.00
1 x 25' Airtubing (mine was all dry ) -- 3.12 (BTW $3.12 most random price ever seen at walmart...)
1 x 2 pack Airline T Valve (I only had one...) -- 1.38
1 x 4 pack of Airstones (had them already but got them from petco -- $1.58 (on sale)
1 x 40 Gallon rated air pump -- NO IDEA I've got airpumps out the ear somehow.... -- $9.99 (lets estimate this)
1 x space -- Priceless
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Total (not including sales tax) - $42.89 (price to expect all new parts), $31.32

Here's the space before:


Here's most of the materials in one place


Initial Placement


Lights Off


Lights On


Airstones working properly (These will be on at night to provide circulation to keep water from getting stagnet (I may switch and have them on all day not sure this is a work in progress)


Lights on with Airstone off


And BAM now you've got a moss growing setup, well we'll see how the setup goes here in a few weeks.

Current Settings/Water
The water comes from my 55 Gallon tank while the CO2 is indicating Green. I'm planning on swapping out the water every day or every other day and I'm hoping for the best with not getting algae.
Light will be on the same timer as my 55 Gallon tank. (8 hours daily)
Air pumps will run when the lights are off.

Let me know what you think! Comments and suggestions are always welcome!

Checked in this morning with the setup and so far so good, if all goes to plan this could be a door opener for a bigger project with the moss (and another idea that my mind is grinding away on) start supplying LFS and trading for store credit...It's a master plan I tell you a master plan!

Very nice, Drew! Keep us updated!!

I'll be sure to, the lady was looking at me like I was insane at Wal*Mart last night when I came through, she prolly thinks that I'm growing ellicit things LOL (well it is Port Richey)

I still couldn't believe how cheap the bins were though I mean 97 cents such a deal for us thrifty students

Yeah, I know what you mean. Publix employees look at me like I'm crazy when I check out with 4 huge jugs of vinegar.

Lol do you buy it with your normal groceries or just by itself

Typically by itself. I'll be sitting in class thinking, "Oh yeah, I really need to clean my skimmer and powerheads. Oh, crap, I don't have any vinegar." And, then I run to Publix on the way home and buy a ton of vinegar. You should also see the looks when I buy the stuff for our meetings. The cashiers always look at me like, "This girl must really love goldfish and capri suns..."

Mmmmm goldfish and Capri sun! You should hit up the same cashier every time

So I did some organizational work tonight....

I have a few more things that I am going to be adding for the experimentation here most of which will be on 2x2 mesh (just to keep things organized) although some I will leave out free floating to see how that works


Mystery Moss | Mixed Moss | 2 x Weeping Moss 2x2, 1 x Xmas Moss 2x2 | Xmas Moss

Mystery Moss - We're getting closer to identification but I will see if it continues to blow up it's already greened up a lot today

Mixed Moss - Combination of Xmas, Java, Weeping, Mystery, Fissidens ... if it's a moss I have a small piece of it has to be in there

Other mosses are self explanitory

Currently swapping out water daily once at the height of my CO2/Photoperiod in my 55 Gallon which is also ferted.

I will probably have one more update later this week then we will let it sit for a while to see what happens

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Wondering if from this point on I should move this into a tank journal or leave it here for the results every week

Looking good! I'd leave it all in this thread instead of making a separate build thread (considering it's not really a new tank, and anyone wanting to do this DIY would probably find it helpful to have all of the info in the same place).

Thanks! Yea if this goes well I'll more than likely be expanding the setup but we shall see

OK so Final testing setup and then it'll be no pictures for a while

Final Setup of the mosses is below under the first picture.

Future Ideas (prolly soon):
*Add one more desk lamp (I just thinking the way the lights are angled, etc... one more light may be better)
*Making plans for a more larger scale setup if this works well

Here's the total overall shot:

Mystery Moss | Subwassertang | 2x Weeping Moss 2x2, 2 x Fissidens, 1x Flame Moss 2x2 | 2x 2x2 xmas moss, 1x cholla xmas, free floating

Mystery Moss: I will figure out what it is when it fills out it seems a bit under lighted


Subwassertang - Doing free floating for now I will eventually figure out stuff to tie it to -- maybe


Weeping Moss (Top), Fissidens (Middle), Flame Moss (Bottom) Note how you can pick up the dark corner from being in between the two lights (far outside)


2x2 Xmas Moss (Top). Free Floating (Middle Right), Cholla (Bottom Left), Rock holding other cholla down


Thanks for stopping by! This will be the last update for at least a week maybe a few wanna let it settle...unless of course I get some explosive growth

I missed the original posting of this. Very cool set up Drew! I look forward to seeing what you can produce!

I like the subwassertang

very nice setup! wish coral propagation was that easy
Yeah the lights look a lil far apart but i know nothing bout algae light requirements. Very clean look!

Thanks Be sure to stay tuned I will be updating it (just not right away)

Yea I'm excited about the subwassertang, it's my first time messing with it. I've been eyeing the light coverage and will be stopping on the way home to pick up another light, at least I will feel better even though I might be over lighting it.

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One thing I haven't mentioned the temps of the water are staying pretty level with room temp even with the lights that close, wow those CFL's are awesome!!!

Kinda wish I had a freshwater planeted setup

I do have an fluval chi sitting here.. hmmmm

are you dosing any ferts ? I bet A DIY CO2 system would really up your growth rates

mangoman wrote:

Kinda wish I had a freshwater planeted setup

I do have an fluval chi sitting here.. hmmmm

Do it, do it!!!

xwesx1978 wrote:

are you dosing any ferts ? I bet A DIY CO2 system would really up your growth rates

The ferts come from my 55 gallon which gets liquid ferts (flourish) as well as root tabs and other goodies in the substrate. I also once a day add 1-2 drops of Excel (liquid carbon) and one drop of the Flourish.

If this goes well I am planning on doing a more "organized" setup and incorporating CO2 and some type of filtration so I don't have to change these every day

Sam_G wrote:

mangoman wrote:

Kinda wish I had a freshwater planeted setup

I do have an fluval chi sitting here.. hmmmm

Do it, do it!!!

I'm with Sam it could be fun!!!!!

I'll look into it

gotta fine a better light, and filter possibly.

Update...no pictures:

Some of the mosses have been congregating at the airstone not quite sure why but it's also not flowing back out to take over the surface area like I would expect/like it to do.

Anyone have any suggestions ?

I will be having a massive update here soon (I'm working on plans right now) updates will come after the semester, it's just these last two weeks are insanity.

I've got stuff on order from Asia (I know but $1 with free shipping or $4 with $3 shipping) when you're buying more than a dozen it gets hard to spend that much when I can wait for a few weeks LOL

The setup has been doing well I've actually trimmed/sold from there twice now and am getting ready for another round here soon. Pictures to come soon...Promise!

I've had some good luck and have tweaked and expanded the setup a bit   I'll post some pictures when I get around to it.  Today is my only day off and I have so much to do LOL

let the pics be revealed LOL

Lol they're coming when I get done time I was tweaking it more again yesteryear